Gwen Ifill: Two Women Co-Anchoring ‘Newshour’ Should Not be News

Journalist Gwen Ifill (L) and Managing Editor at PBS NewsHour Judy Woodruff speak onstage at the International Women’s Media Foundation’s 2013 Courage In Journalism And Lifetime Achievement Awards at Cipriani 42nd Street on October 23, 2013 in New York City.

*PBS made headlines in August when producers named Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff the co-anchors of “Newshour,” marking the first time in history that a major network newscast has been anchored by two women.

“If you go to Spanish language television, you probably would find a lot more evidence of two women sitting side by side anchoring a news broadcast. But here right now, it’s news,” said Ifill, speaking just after the announcement at the TCA Summer Press Tour.

“We would like for the day to come when it’s not news anymore, when two women sitting side by side, who have the depth of experience that Judy and I bring to the subject at hand and to the task at hand, would just be another thing that girls see every day, but they don’t see it every day right now,” said Ifill. “And I know we’re both really proud, and I’ve gotten amazing reaction from young women who are touched by the idea that this is break through for them, that they’re going to see something different. So we want to live up to that.”

Below, Ifill says their “Newshour” broadcast is unlike any news program currently on television.

Ifill and Woodruff will serve as both anchors and managing editors of the PBS broadcast Monday through Thursday each week. Woodruff will anchor solo on Friday while Ifill handles her duties on her other PBS series, “Washington Week.”

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